direct plate printing using the UV direct printing process

Affordable – printed directly onto the plate without any detours!  With UV direct printing or direct plate printing, we print rigid plate materials up to a thickness of 5 cm and a size of 300 x 200 cm in one piece. As an effect color, we offer UV direct printing on Alu-Dibond Butlerfinish, acrylic glass and polycarbonate with a special color white.  Calculate your plates with UV direct printing now!

How does UV direct printing work on plates

The ink is sprayed directly onto the printing material and hardens under UV lamps. This is how printing works in detail:

First of all – there are two different types of UV direct printers. Firstly, there are plate printers that move rigid plates through the printer via a conveyor belt, and secondly, there are direct printers with fixed positioning of the material to be printed on a vacuum plate. Here, the print carriage and print head move over the plate material for printing.

We prefer the second option! UV direct printer with fixed positioning on a vacuum plate. This way, the heavy plate does not have to be transported through the printer, but rather the print carriage moves without resistance at a distance of approx. 2 millimeters over the plate to be printed.

This enables more precise positioning of the ink drops, higher print resolution and streak-free printing!

UV direct printing: step by step

1. We place the plate material you ordered on the vacuum table of our direct printer. We switch on the vacuum pumps to perfectly fix the plate material and remove the protective film from the plate.
2. We roll over the plate material with an anti-static roller to remove even the last grains of dust. On the control panel, select your individual print file, the media set with all the presets for the respective plate material and click on “Print”.
3. The UV direct printer starts the two UV lamps that are mounted on the left and right of the print carriage. When the required brightness is reached, printing starts automatically. The print carriage with the print heads moves from left to right over the vacuum table with the plate material placed on it. It turns at the end of the plate and moves in the opposite direction. At each turning point, the print carriage also moves backwards by approx. 2 cm. This backward movement is called a pass.
4. The print image is built up in registers. In other words, each image area is built up in four steps so that the ink does not run and can dry immediately. You are probably familiar with this from your inkjet printer.
5. As soon as the entire plate has been printed, the printer stops. The print carriage moves to the parking position. The vacuum pump is switched off and the printed plate is removed. Done!

Fast and inexpensive – plate printing with UV direct printers

Advantages and Disadvantages of UV Direct Printing

Every printing process has its advantages. This is also the case with UV direct printing. The advantages are:

• inexpensive – material and labor-saving direct printing
• environmentally friendly – ​​saves materials without foils etc.
• everything printing – on almost any rigid plate material

Direct plate printing or UV direct printing is not a “jack of all trades” in every case. Unlike long-lasting foil printing, UV direct printing is not additionally protected against UV radiation and fading. The durability is therefore limited to around 3 years outdoors. Scratch resistance is also lower, as there is no protective laminate to protect the print from mechanical stress.